Essex gymnast Courtney Gleason performs on the balance beam at the state champiosnhips on Saturday. / DAMIR ALISA/ FREE PRESS

Written by

Free Press Staff Writer

ESSEX — After an average first vault attempt, Essex High School’s Courtney Gleason gazed at her team’s large, handmade banner pinned to the wall. She pounded her fist into the Hornet, the school’s nickname, using it as a source of inspiration.

There’s plenty of tradition for the Hornets’ gymnastics program, a standard Gleason wasn’t willing to let down at Saturday’s Vermont high school state championships.

Gleason wowed her teammates and coaches with a 9.550 score in vault — the day’s top performance — and sprung Essex into gear as it captured its eighth straight state crown. The Hornets earned a team score of 139.10, holding off second-place CVU (138.25) in the final event, the floor exercise. Harwood (129.55), South Burlington (117.325) and St. Johnsbury (113.650) rounded out the nine-team meet that included several independents in the field.

Gleason, who finished second in floor, third in bars and fifth in beam, took the all-around crown (36.600) — also the eighth straight year a Hornet gymnast has claimed the meet’s top individual honor.

“Courtney had the meet of her life. She’s never hit all four events like that and she nailed them,” Essex coach Ashley Godin said.

Gleason, a junior who was seventh in the all-around a year ago, maintained her composure in a pressure-packed atmosphere.

“All I needed to do was not let my mind distract me and to keep focused,” said Gleason. “I’m glad to say I’m carrying on the tradition, but I didn’t really feel pressure at all. I wasn’t expecting to win.

“I knew that if I worked hard, the hard work would pay off eventually and it did.”

That motto served Gleason and her teammates well in a trying season. Last year’s all-around champion, freshman Kira Tanghe, did not return to the team. Earlier this season, Michaela Isham, a captain, tore her ACL, and Emily Douglas suffered a broken ankle that kept her sidelined until Saturday’s effort in the bars.

“We weren’t the stronger team on paper. And people doubted us. It was frustrating and we knew we had some obstacles to overcome,” said Godin of the preseason chatter. “It just felt like we kept getting torn down … and it was like, ‘what are we going to do?’ And people stepped up big when we needed them to.”

(Page 2 of 2)

Karyn Svarczkopf finished third in all-around, two years after taking runner-up as a freshman, while Rylie Hathaway (seventh, vault) and Taylor Thompson (floor, eighth) were among Essex’s contributors.

“I knew at that point I needed to step up and I knew we could do it,” said Gleason about the injury setbacks. “I felt like we had it in us, we dug deep and pulled through in the end.”

Behind Megan Nick’s second-place showing in all-around and a nearly spotless team performance on beam, the Redhawks nearly dethroned Essex — again. But Nick said her and her teammates were still satisfied with another stellar campaign.

“We stuck beam and that’s what we wanted to do. That was an accomplishment and we’re happy with that. It was a good reward for the season,” Nick said. “We had a great meet and we had a closer team this year and a lot more team spirit. We had a fun team.”